Former National Office for Gambling (ONJN) President Odeta Nestor has been moved from preventive detention to house arrest after the Bucharest Court of Appeal upheld her challenge against an earlier court ruling.
The court replaced preventive arrest with house arrest for 30 days, running from 29 June to 28 July. The decision is final for the preventive measure.
Nestor had been detained in June as part of a National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) investigation into alleged bribery involving Romania’s gambling regulator.
Prosecutors accuse her of complicity in bribery and instigating the unlawful use of non-public information.
According to prosecutors, the case concerns alleged payments to ONJN officials between November 2025 and March 2026. DNA alleges Nestor paid €1,500 ($1,709) and 2,000 lei ($2,300) to a public official connected to the regulator to influence the timing of official actions and gain access to documents not intended for public release.
The investigation also centres on an alleged €100,000 bribe promised by a Bulgarian citizen on behalf of a gambling operator. Prosecutors claim the money was intended to influence ONJN checks so that no sanctions would be imposed on the operator.
DNA alleges €50,000 was paid in two instalments in April, with the remaining €50,000 handed over during a controlled operation on 16 June.
The case has widened beyond gambling regulation. Prosecutors opened a separate file involving Bucharest Mayor Ciprian Ciucu, who is under judicial control in an investigation concerning alleged advertising and electoral consultancy services linked to a real estate authorisation process.
Romania’s gambling sector is already operating under tighter political and regulatory pressure. ONJN supervises licensing and enforcement for land-based and online gambling, while recent reforms have increased compliance obligations and expanded scrutiny of operators.
Global Gaming Insider previously reported that Romanian court reasoning linked the alleged ONJN bribe to checks over a 5.4 million lei casino jackpot and possible referrals to prosecutors and Romania’s anti-money laundering office.
Nestor served as ONJN President from 2013 to 2017 before later working as a gambling industry consultant and adviser
